Chicano students in California Schools

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    California public schools are incrisis- and they are getting worse. This is a consequence  of massive budget cuts imposed on theschools by the legislature and the governor in the last four years.  Totalper pupil expenditure is down over $1,000 per student. The result issignificant  class sizeincreases.   Students are inoften classes too large for learning.  Supplementary services such astutoring, art, and drop out prevention  classes have been eliminated.  Over 14,000 teachers havebeen dismissed due to the budget emergencies.          Over 48% of the children inCalifornia public schools are Chicano/Latino or descendents of Mexican/Latino parents.  ( See link, Demographics).  The Chicano dropout rate has not significantly changed in 30 years.   ( See ChoosingDemocracy: a practical guide to multicultural education, and Chicana/oEducational Pipeline https://sites.google.com/site/democracyandeducationorg/Home/chicana-o-educational-pipeline )All children need a good education to participate in our democracy and preparefor  life in the rapidly changing economy.    We need to invest in urban schools, provide equal educationalopportunities in these schools, and recruit a well prepared  teachingforce that begins to reflect the student populations in these schools. At thesame time the largest, most succesful teacher preparation program forChicano/Latino children has been closed down at Sacramento State- https://sites.google.com/site/democracyandeducationorg/chicano-mexican-american-digital-history-project/history-of-bilingual-education-dept-at-sac-state)  Wemust insist on equal opportunity to learn, without  compromise.  Whenwe do these things, we will begin to protect the freedom to learn for ourchildren and our grandchildren, and to build a more just and  democraticsociety.       Californiaschools are now 47^th. in the nation in per pupilexpenditure and 49^th in class size. Low achievementscores on national tests  inreading and math reflect this severe underfunding. California teachers havebeen subject to demoralizing  budget cuts that often prevent good teaching.       Instead of working with teachers to restore budgets, or tolimit budget cuts, a group that claims to be school “reformers” argue that theimportant issue is teacher accountability.       This group of “reformers” includes so called   Democrats for Education Reform  led by former State Senator  Gloria Romero and  by Michelle Rhee, former Chancellor of the Washington, D.C.schools. See. https://sites.google.com/site/democracyandeducationorg/

       The so called “reformers” disrespect teachers.  They prefer schools with principals asmanagers – and that does not work. They seek to  reduceteachers to interchangeable cogs in a corporate machine with few rights andlittle independence.   They have reduced teachers’ job securityand professional self respect  inthe classroom.          Thereare some school districts that are failing for many of their children.  Los Angeles Unified is one of these asis Oakland.  But, look at thereality.  District failure isalmost never the result of teachers, it is a failure to adequately  fund, administrate and lead.  Why do some districts succeed while others fail while usingthe same teacher evaluation systems?          These“reformers” have not improved our  schools, however they have been effective in gaining a voicein  the state legislature.          These groups, andtheir leaders, like to meet and to write reports about what teachers should dodifferently.  They assert that theyknow how to improve teaching and schools. Where is the evidence ? Show me where they have improved school achievement.    They do not assistteachers. We have had decades of such reports.  They have not supported teacher growth nor professionalism,only their own consultant fees. And, so far   they haveimproved is the flavor of coffee at their fund raising events.Thelegislature could best  improve theschools by doing their job –that is to adequately fund the schools.  AsCalifornia cuts over $5 billion from the schools conditions and learning inthese schools deteriorate.  Instead of doing their job and providing theresources some legislators respond to the  “reformers”  callfor a new system of teacher evaluation.          Note  that the Californialegislature has a 13% support rate from the voting public.  Teachers areone of the most valued professions we have in educating futuregenerations. 
     The Chicago   strike represents the first open rebellion of teachersnationwide over political  effortsignore the funding crises in the schools and substitute efforts  to evaluate, punish and reward teachers  based on their students’ scores onstandardized tests of low-level basic skills in math and reading.  This is only the beginning.  If  California legislative leaders follow the direction of the socalled “Democrats for Education Reform”, more strikes will follow. There is little substantive evidencethat the use of test scores to evaluate teachers improves studentachievement.  See the post below byRichard Rothstein on Teacher Accountability .